Turkish people filed several complaints for an ad involving children

RTÜK (English: Radio and Television Supreme Council) is the Turkish state agency for monitoring, regulating, and sanctioning radio and television broadcasts.

According to the officials 30% of the complaints filed with RTÜK in the last months of 2011 were about the advertisement of Evy Baby, a company producing baby diapers.

According to the news of Habertürk, a Turkish newspaper, persons who filed complaints underlined that “Baby girls are shown as sex objects”; “Such advertising shall not be broadcasted considering paedophile patients”; “Turkey is talking about sexual abuse, but what about this advertisement?”

Türkay Asma, lawyer and the President of Stopping Child Abuse and Negligence Association has stated that they will request the ceasing of the advertisement, since it is definitely contradictory to pedagogic studies. She added that RTÜK should cease such advertising ex officio, before they filed any complaint.

“THE ADVERTISEMENT SHALL NOT BE BROADCASTED AS IT IS”

Accordingly, RTÜK has examined the said advertisement and the complaints. The Board held that: “Children acting in the advertisement have been shown as adults. Children iconize their parents may be accepted as a childish act, but acts in such advertisement have been evaluated as exaggerated imitation of adult women. In other words, such acts are beyond iconizing parents and beyond childish acts. Therefore it has been concluded that such advertisement is not in compliance with Article 18 entitled ‘Children and the Youth’ set forth in Self-Control Principles. Article 18 of Self-Control Principles reads as ‘When marketing strategies directed to or subjected children and the youth, strict attention has to be paid. This kind of communications shall not harm positive social attitudes, life styles, and manners’.”

The decision of the Board has been served to the advertising agency and Evy Baby Company has been asked to make necessary amendments of to cease such advertisement.

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